Child of Earth
by Erza in TARDIS
Summary: The world is at a breaking point. The tension between the Fire Nation and the Northern Water Tribe is at an all-time high; not to mention several Independent States are warring over petty border disputes and the Avatar is nowhere to be found. Set 600 years before the events of AT:TLA and Korra, these are the adventures of Avatar Fan, the young girl who must complete her training.


**A/N: Hello, beautiful people, welcome to my latest fic~ **

**As you already know, this fic is set in the Last Airbender universe, and this takes place 600 years before Aang defeats the Fire Lord. It is a very different time, there are Independent States that have not yet been taken over by the Earth Kingdom, and things work a bit differently. I read loads of wiki pages and read up on the geography of the Avatar world to make sure this fits in snugly with the Avatar canon, and if you notice ANY errors whatsoever, let me know, and I'll be sure to change them :) **

**Without further ado, here is the first chapter in Avatar Fan's adventures! Enjoy~**

The girl was a strange one.

Not only was she an eight-year-old who had no name, and lived in a cave, but she seemed to have a natural affiliation for Earthbending. Her only friends were the wildlife that she didn't eat, and when she did see people, she hid from them and watched on, never interacting with another living human. She instead lived by herself in a hole in a mountain, where she slept on the ground and cooked her meat over a campfire.

Clothes, she had none. She had seen the strange cloth hanging from the very few who passed on a small path that was near the cave, but had never had any need of it herself. Through summer and winter, the heat and cold didn't seem to bother her much.

The girl had been there as long as she could remember, the cave and forest around the steep cliff that stretched for miles and housed the girl were her home; her oldest memories involved killing wild boar with her Earthbending and dragging the corpse back to her cave to eat, where she had always been. It was a strange existence, but it was the only one she knew.

And her bending ability seemed to come naturally. Though she had no one to compare it to, she did not realize that her talent far exceeded that of an eight-year-old Earthbender. And with training, she could become very, very strong indeed.

One of the things she could do, however, was speak. While she had no interaction with living humans, she had 'ghosts' that she didn't quite understand. She knew that they were dead, but not much else, other than that she could only contact them when she wanted to, and it took lots of focus.

These 'ghosts' taught her things; but only a very limited pool of knowledge. They taught the girl the names of things, like trees, grass, caves, rock, and explained that the way she moved the ground around her was called Earthbending. But that was all. Something held them back, and whenever the girl was curious and asked them who they were, or why she was there, the answer was always the same:

"You must discover your own path, young one."

And that was that. A curious statement, indeed, one that made the girl wonder. Who was she? Why was she here? Where is here? And why must she 'discover her own path'? These questions would flood the girls head, but soon enough her instincts would kick in. She lived in the wild, and had no desire to ever leave her cave. It wasn't that she liked it here, it was simply her natural way of thinking. The cave was home, so why leave?

Unfortunately for her, her destiny was much, much greater than that of a cave-dwellers- which she would soon find out.

(CHAPTER BREAK)

Shu stumbled miserably over yet another loose tree root that stuck out of the path at an odd angle. He swore under his breath, catching himself on his walking stick before he took a tumble. He noted that his sandals were worn, and that he would have to buy a new pair in the next town.

Continuing down the worn, rugged path, he saw a large tree that looked as comfortable as any, and figured that he should rest, as dying of exhaustion wouldn't be doing anybody good, especially himself.

He dropped his walking stick and collapsed onto his bottom, grabbing a pouch from his waist and taking a swig of water from it. He was hot, very hot. It was mid-summer, after all, and the dense forest that shone a small amount of light through the leaves was not helping. That, and the fact that Shu had been walking for seven hours straight, and the large bag that he carried containing a tent and food provisions, didn't help him. He was exhausted.

But it was nothing new to him. It was just another job, after all. Delivering letters and packages, that's what couriers do, after all. And Shu prided himself with making the fastest deliveries in the entire Earth Kingdom, and he had only been in the profession for two years. This delivery, however, was different. Urgent, even.

The job was simple; deliver a letter in a sealed envelope to Du Lee Baodong in the south. But there were problems. For one, Baodong was the leader of the Qiguai Kingdom; a nation separate from the Earth Kingdom, one that had never gotten along with its sister nation, and vis-versa. Shu had never left the Earth Kingdom, and was afraid of what might be waiting for him. Perhaps citizens of Qiguai were savages that would rip him to pieces. That would certainly be unpleasant. Maybe King Baodong would receive the letter, and then immediately have Shu beheaded. He feared any of these things would be true, although he knew that travellers that came to the Earth Kingdom and stated that they indeed had been to Qiguai, and they had all had their limbs, fingers and toes. So surely, it wouldn't be so bad. Would it?

The other problem was the way Shu had to get there. To enter Qiguai territory, he must pass through Wiexian, an Independent State that was known for having hordes of bandits and highwaymen, and Shu was no fighter.

And the third issue was the sender. The sender was the Earth Queen herself, Queen Liwah. The poor girl, Shu thought. 17-years-old, and both of her parents dead. It was a true shame that such a young girl was made queen in a time that war might very well break out. That being said, Shu had no idea what the letter might read; the envelope had been sealed and he had been instructed to never open it until it reached King Baodong.

Yes, these were strange times indeed, and that worried Shu, because there was no Avatar. After the death of beloved Avatar Miuk eight years prior, the next Avatar had never been found; though people did not give up hope of ever finding him. But Shu knew one thing was for sure, though. The Avatar must appear soon and help restore peace, so else the Earth Kingdom would surely enter war with Qiguai, or any Independent State. Who knew what could happen without the Avatar's guidance?

Shu finished guzzling his water, with about half of the pouch still full. He would need some for later, assuming he wouldn't find a river or spring to refill his container with. He rested for a few more minutes, catching his breath, then decided that sitting down would get him nowhere. He was a courier, and it was not a job that allowed slacking.

Standing up, Shu grabbed his walking stick and pressed on. He only got a few steps, though, as he stopped when he heard rustling in the bushes to his right. Surprised, he took a few steps back. 'I knew I should have taken the main road', Shu thought, afraid of some sort of wild beast about to feast on his flesh.

Staring into the bushes, he saw a pair of brown eyes staring back at him. But they didn't look dangerous, like the eyes belonging to a predator. They looked fearful.

"Hello?" Shu called, carefully taking a step forward.

And out of the bushes came the very last thing he expected: a young girl.

The girl was very frightened, looking straight into Shu's eyes. She had long, black hair that was tangled and matted, she had dirt on her face and arms, and she had no form of clothing on.

Shu was shocked. Some sort of wildling? He had no idea just who he was encountering here, but it seemed as if the girl was living here. So Shu decided to ask her. "Do you live here?" He reached a hand out and took another step forward. The girl flinched and backed away, terrified and breathing heavily. Realizing this was a reaction to him, Shu held his hands over his head, showing that he was not armed, and had no intention of hurting her.

"Woah, woah," Shu said. "It's alright. I have no weapons, see? I have no intention of harming you."

The girl stared at him, considering his words and actions. She then very slowly took a step forward, cautiously testing the waters. "You are… human?" She spoke in a soft sweet voice, which surprised Shu.

"Yes, I am," Shu replied, hands still raised. "My name is Shu. And you are?" He spoke politely, perhaps out of force of habit, having been contacting royalty and the rich, as they were his main employers. Shu made a mental note that it would be alright to loosen his tongue; he very much doubted this girl cared about the way he spoke.

"A name?" The girl questioned, inching forward again. "I have no need for a name."

Shu looked surprised. "No name? Then what am I supposed to call you?"

The girl shrugged. Shu glanced downward at her body, then quickly back to her face. "Do you… er, would you like some clothes, perhaps?"

The girl looked at him blankly. "I have none. Should I have some?"

Shu laughed. "You are a strange one." He took his large bag off of his back and rummaged through it. The girl stepped back, worried he would draw some sort of weapon, but instead, Shu pulled out tan rough pants and a black shirt.

"Here," Shu said, tossing it to the girl. The girl caught it and eyed it carefully.

"These are clothes?" She said, holding the pants. She looked at it carefully, and put it over her head. Shu burst out laughing.

"Not like that!" He chuckled, approaching her. "They go through your legs." He took the pants off of her head and instead gave her the shirt. "Here, this one goes over your head." He closed his eyes, not used to the nakedness of children. He was not a parent himself, he didn't even have a wife, and he didn't think much about a future family life. In his mind, running to and fro, delivering messages and packages was what he'd be doing most of his life, until he had enough coin to buy a nice house in the inner circle of Ba Sing Se and retire. But that was a ways off for him, for now he wanted to continue to do his job and have plenty of interesting adventures.

The girl preceded to dress in the clothes that were clearly meant for someone bigger than her. The shirt hung down to her knees, which covered her up nicely. The pants, however, immediately slid off of her, much too big.

"This is pointless," the girl said in monotone. "Why are you having me do this?"

"Well…" Shu realized he had no idea why he was doing this himself. He had just met the girl, after all. But he felt a sense of protectiveness, this was a girl lived in the middle of this wilderness all alone (apparently), and she was only a child. She was by far the strangest and most interesting thing Shu had come across in his travels, and he wanted her to be safe.

"I suppose it's because you're alone," Shu realized. "Am I really the first human you've encountered in your life?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, just you." The girl looked up at him. "You are… nice."

Shu smiled. "Well, thank you. So where exactly do you live?"

The girl looked at him, considering her options. But, her desire to talk to another human and the kindness of the man drove her to the conclusion that it would be safe to take him to her cave.

"I live over there," she said pointing behind her, in the direction of the nearby mountains that separated this forest and the Si Wong Desert.

Shu poke his next sentence cautiously. "Can I… see where you live, perhaps?"

The girl nodded, and turned into the forest walking away from Shu. Taking it as a sign to follow, he slung his bag over his back again, grabbed his walking stick and continued on, curiousity about the girl driving him. What a strange encounter, he thought.

And with that chance meeting, between the wandering courier and the wild-haired girl, our story begins.

**A/N: This chapter served as a bit of a prologue... but that's okay, with a story like this (one that will be quite long, if not devided into two or more fics), the first couple chapters are going to mostly be exposition anyway :P Let me know what you thought in a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts, and it really keeps me motivated to keep going.**

**Thank you, and much love!**


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